He intended to be benevolent, but today he is accused of sexual assault by several former youth soccer players. Patrick M., 65, former coach of the Verrières-le-Buisson junior team, appeared this Wednesday, May 28, before the Évry-Courcouronnes Criminal Court. The prosecutor requested a five-year prison sentence, including 30 months suspended probation. The verdict is expected on June 25.
A grip woven over years
Behind a veneer of respectability, the man, retired since 2016, is suspected of having established an unhealthy climate over fifteen years, mixing physical proximity, ambiguous gestures, and troubling rituals, often outside his role as an educator. "Full-body" massages, nude scrubs in bathtubs, kisses on the buttocks: the accounts agree, and the locations vary—from the locker room in Verrières-le-Buisson to the bathrooms of Tignes, Nice, and even Spain, where the man sometimes took the young people on vacation. In court, Patrick M. partially admitted the facts, without ever accepting their sexual significance. "There was no excitement, no pleasure," he defended himself. Faced with testimonies suggesting touching of private parts, he deflected: "It's possible that I touched without meaning to... but never voluntarily." » However, one complainant, hosted by Patrick M. at 18, described an intrusion into his shower and unequivocal gestures, followed by a night forced into the coach's bed. Another claims to have been forced to scrub during a math class, before fellatio was suggested.
A long-awaited judgment
In these accounts, shock, fear, and confusion dominate. And for the defendant, blindness—real or feigned. Long considered a "second father," Patrick M. is now confronted with the shockwave left in the wake of his actions. One of the complaints, filed in 2015, was dismissed. It wasn't until 2022 and a new accusation that the case took a new legal turn. Despite belated regrets expressed at the end of the hearing, the defendant persists in denying the sexual intent of the actions. His lawyer raised the statute of limitations for certain facts. But for the victims, the damage is done—irreversible. The court will deliver its decision in a month.
